Army guns down eight militants

9 October 2005The Indian ExpressExpress News Service

Srinagar: The Army today killed eight militants near the Line of Control in Gulmarg sector. ‘‘These militants were armed and were trying to infiltrate across the LoC when an Army patrol detected them,” a spokesman of the 15 Corps said. ‘‘They were killed near the fence. We have recovered eight AK rifles, a pistol, 750 rounds, 200 hand grenades, 15 UBGL rounds and two radio sets,” he added. The infiltration bid was made hours before the United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of Pak-based Kashmiri militant groups announced a total halt in militancy related activities in the quake-hit areas. Meanwhile, the Army today foiled an apparent bid by the militants to blow up the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and stop relief supplies from reaching the quake-affected, with timely detection of two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and a truck carrying 100-kg RDX, a Defence spokesman said here. Road Opening Party (ROP) columns came across two IEDs on the highway, about seven kilometres north of Batote, the spokesman said, adding that each IED contained about five kg explosives. In another incident, Army sleuths laid a trap and intercepted an explosive-laden truck. The interrogation of the driver, B A Malik and co-driver, Mohammad Iqbal, who was transporting sheep from Delhi to Srinagar, revealed that an agent in Delhi had told them to deliver the RDX consignment concealed to Qazigund.